Manga and Comic Reviews
This volume ends on an amazing cliffhanger. If you’ve been following Rick Remender’s writing for any length of time, you’ll know that he loves to grind down his protagonists. Sometimes this can get really wearying, but in cases like “Deadly Class” it becomes part of the fun. Still, when I was getting to the last […]
This was billed as the first major “Descender” event, but it’s also going to be the title’s last. To my surprise, the back cover text told me that this is going to be the penultimate volume of the series. I was expecting “Descender” to have a longer run (50-60 issues is usually how long most […]
I didn’t realize it until reading this volume, but I screwed up when compiling my “Best of 2017” list. For reasons that I cannot explain, the brilliance of “Happiness” vol. 4 managed to slip my mind when I was putting things together. It stings even more because mangaka Shuzo Oshimi manages some really impressive tricks […]
With “The Defenders” getting their own show on Netflix, it was inevitable that we’d get a new comic which teams up Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Daredevil. That the comic is coming from a writer, Bendis, who has experience writing all of them is definitely a plus as is the fact that it’s […]
Jason Aaron and Chris Bachalo wrap up their run on this title in the same weird, queasily funny, and strangely (pun intended) violent way they came into it. The stakes are high, though, as we’re picking up from the previous volume’s cliffhanger which had Mr. Misery — the living embodiment of Strange’s pain and suffering […]
I think Mark Waid’s strengths as a writer lie in character development and a willingness to subvert convention when necessary. These are the things that made his run on “Daredevil” so great after all. With “Champions” it’s all about channelling a youthful spirit of rebellion and that’s something he hasn’t quite nailed here. To his […]
Vol. 2 left off on a pretty great cliffhanger where Sugimoto was being beaten and stabbed by twin soldiers while in the custody of Lt. Tsurumi. The resolution as to how he manages to get out of this situation is the best part of the volume. It involves a greased-up “Escape King” Shiraishi, some quick […]
For the first round of collections from the current flagship titles of the “X-Men” line, the win went to “Gold.” It didn’t exactly do anything new with the characters or its storytelling, but it did serve them up in a pleasingly familiar way which served as a welcome dose of nostalgia. The first volume of […]
You know, I thought that Wizord’s arc for this series was going to be a standard redemption one but now I’m not so sure. There’s a lot here in “Explosiontown” which suggests that while he’s come to like our world and enjoy being a part of it, he’s still the same bastard he was back […]
Does the second volume of this “Fables” spin-off make me sad that we’re not going to see any more of it? Not really. Most of this volume is the same kind of fine approximation of the original series that the first one managed, with a weird but serious detour into examining how hope can emerge […]